Bomb kills 2 in southern Thai city, others diffused

BANGKOK - A bomb killed two people in southern Thailand on Sunday and police said they had defused other devices, apparently placed by Muslim separatists showing their capacity to strike despite a failed attack on a marine base last week.

The insurgency in Thailand's south by ethnic Malay separatists flared up in 2004 and more than 5,300 people have since been killed in the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

On Wednesday, in the deadliest incident in the area in nine years, up to 60 insurgents attacked a marine base in Narathiwat. However, the authorities had been tipped off and marines killed 16 of the assailants, with no loss of life among the military.

That was seen as a setback for the rebels, athough some analysts had warned it would make them more determined, and retaliation came quickly.